werefox08 The acting of Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney (who play a married couple) is extremely good. The actual film is O.K., but one has to ask why it did so poorly...particularly in America. The answer (I believe) is the case of the missing scene. When four men find a young ladies dead body during a fishing expedition, they just go ahead with their fishing. No communication, no debate about what would be the correct course of action--nothing.! It is true however, that some Aussie "blokes" would just carry on with their watery activity. Whatever--I am sure this--and some other typically Aussie bloke activities may have confused the global audience. Anyway this movie has a spooky atmosphere from start to finish--like there is some impending doom on the horizon. It has the power to unsettle the viewer. There are some rather ridiculous interactions between Aboriginals and whites, but generally its an effective drama / murder story.

Martin Teller I have absolutely no idea how this ended up on my "want to see" list. I know nothing about the director, I don't particularly care about the actors, it has a rather low score on IMDb, and I don't remember hearing about it anywhere. About a third of the way through I had a flash of recognition as I realized that many years ago I'd read the Raymond Carver story it was based on (the same story also makes up a portion of SHORT CUTS, although I've forgotten it being in there at all).Lawrence expands on the story a bit, at least to my recollection. I don't remember there being any racial elements, which adds some interesting angles to the themes of guilt. The characters feel a wide array of guilts, and use them as weapons against each other, so introducing white guilt into the mix gives the film more avenues to explore. I found the drama rather compelling (after a somewhat sluggish first act) with its dilemmas and interpersonal conflict. I haven't read Carver for a long time, but I know he liked to examine the ways in which we justify our actions. However, the film does lay it on a bit thick at times, despite attempts at subtlety. Some of the metaphorical work going on is pretty heavy-handed. I also found the performances not terribly impressive. Still, a worthwhile endeavor for fans of moral tales.

Wuchak "Jindabyne" (pronounced JIN-da-bine) is a 2006 film about a crisis in an Australian town. Four guys on a fishing trip in the wilderness discover a body of a young woman in a creek, a woman who's part aboriginal; they decide to finish their activities before reporting the body 2 days later. When the press gets ahold of the story the men are criticized for their irresponsibility; their actions are also interpreted as racist by the local native population. Claire (Laura Linney), the wife of one of the men, Stewart (Gabriel Byrne), can't believe they didn't immediately report the body and becomes suspicious of the incident. Meanwhile the killer is on the loose."Jindabyne" combines elements of "Deliverance" (1972) and "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (1975). The similarities with the former are obvious, while it shares the latter's haunting ambiance and overall mysteriousness of the Australian wilderness (albeit Eastern Australia rather than Western).While "Jindabyne" isn't the most captivating piece of celluloid and leaves some aspects unresolved, it did hold my attention and the story provokes numerous insights and questions. For instance, the killer is revealed in the opening shot. This isn't someone frothing at the mouth with evil, but rather an ordinary-looking electrician which shows that there are ordinary-looking people out there who have no qualms about snuffing out a person's life for their own selfish purposes, just as there are people who would steal, molest or falsely testify without a second thought. We shouldn't assume everyone's like us. There are evil people out there who prey on others. If the aboriginal girl had realized this she wouldn't have allowed herself to fall into the killer's grasp.The story gives evidence that the men were fishoholics excited about their adventure and simply weren't prepared to handle the burden and responsibility of a mysterious dead body. Hence, they temporarily blocked out the corpse and continued their endeavors. Later, in the big fight scene with Claire, Stewart admits with all the rage that only guilt can cook up, that it did FEEL GOOD to be fishing for awhile, free from the shackles of his every-day mundane existence in "civilization." But how could it? Maybe because many men have the ability to focus on the moment and, basically, forget, for a while, the circumstances surrounding them.This, I think, director Ray Lawrence portrays effectively in the fishing scene. The scene is a soothing interlude between moments of tension; it's like momentary heaven on earth. And then they remembered the dead body.Many say the movie is about making a stupid decision and the requisite consequences, as well as repentance, forgiveness and compassion. True, but the movie is also about the differences between the way man and woman view and deal with reality. I doubt most women would be able to ignore the presence of a corpse enough to enjoy a fishing holiday, which explains why Claire becomes appalled at the incident. No wonder she looks at her husband as if she doesn't know him; their marriage was already strained and this rips it apart (to say nothing of the weirdo mother-in-law -- she'd give anyone the heebie-jeebies!).Another scene that depicts this difference is when Stewart comes home from the fishing trip in the middle of the night. Feeling guilty and confused, he needs to make love to Claire, to regain a bit of his humanity. Talking about it is not an option, there are simply no words. It's evidently a way for Stewart to "skip" the whole event, to pretend he's not concerned by it.Yet, I think the film is about scapegoating more than anything. A young girl is dead and it's next to impossible to discern who did it, so the community's collective pain is hurled at the four who trivialized her death in order to preserve their holiday. Also, the film obviously compares the men's cavalier disregard with the heartless indifference of the killer himself. Which isn't to say they're as bad as the murderer, not at all, but they do share one of the traits that enables him to do what he does.Theories on the implications of the bee sting: (1) It represents the girl taking some small revenge now that she was one with nature. (2) It showed nature beginning to assert its dominance over this man who professes a psychological link with artificial power, and the way he uses nature to abet his crimes (i.e. hiding in the rocks and disposing of his victims in the stream). (3) It simply shows that his cycle of predation and murder is an eroding one, in that the longer he keeps doing it the more things will happen that are beyond his control, and will eventually lead to his discovery. (4) It signifies how a murderer can kill a person with no remorse or anything, just like killing an insect. And (5) It shows how the killer's still alive since he can feel and react to the bee whereas the girl's dead and gone as her body is unable to feel or react to the insects transgressing her corpse (as depicted in an earlier scene).The only criticism I can voice concerns the corpse of the girl; her body almost looks sexy, which is never the case in real life and even more so in this case since the body's been dead for awhile and lying in a creek under the hot sun. My wife works at a burial park and sees bodies all the time, young and old. Corpses are gross and smelly. Death is never sexy.

MarieGabrielle This film is at first subtle suspense,then drama and human psychodrama,spiced with human failings, marital discord,a curious backdrop of the haunted town of Jindabyne,and community unrest,racial conflict and a local serial killer.Perfect performance by Gabriel Byrne as Kane,a local gas station owner who has several fishing and drinking buddies, and discovers the corpse of a young woman on one of these trips. He and his friends wait a few days to report to the authorities, and the moral issues of this are complex and varied.The young woman victim was of Aborigine extraction, although this aspect may have been divulged more clearly to the audience.Byrne and his wife Claire (sterling performance by Laura Linney),are in the midst of their own marital issues,she has a son and Byrne seems to favor him,there is underlying rage Claire has toward her husband which is not fully explored. The manner in which the young woman's death is treated by Kane is also a source of rage, Claire asks him if he would have been so cavalier and uncaring if the victim were a young boy;the issues of racism and sexism are touched upon, but could have been made a bit clearer without dominating the storyline.The backdrop of Jindabyne itself is haunting,beautiful and sinister,in the mode almost of film-noir;we know at the start of the film the location has a marked influence and fate in store for its characters.A must see for anyone who appreciates character studies,suspense and even horror.9/10.